This report compares state numeric water quality criteria to recommended criteria and related standards issued by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
This report compares state numeric water quality criteria to recommended criteria and related standards issued by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Recent Supreme Court rulings have called into question federal Clean Water Act coverage for certain wetlands and streams. Legislation recently introduced in the House of Representatives would amend the Act to restate and clarify Congress’s intent to regulate the waters of the United States to the fullest extent of its legislative power. The Environmental Law Institute has issued a new white paper that identifies which constitutional powers Congress can rely on to protect the Nation’s waters, and explains in straightforward language what the Supreme Court has said about these powers.
Early Detection/Rapid Response (EDRR) is a critical tool for identifying and eradicating introductions of new invasive species and pests. The effectiveness of EDRR largely depends on a supportive legal framework that can facilitate quick action. However, a number of states either lack the appropriate legal framework or contain restrictions (such as on the use of pesticides, or the area/manner in which they can be applied, etc.) that hinder the effective use of EDRR. It is important to understand where these gaps in state authority lie in order to address them at the legal and policy level.
Introduced to the Senate on February 10, 2005, Senate Bill 363 (S. 363, the Ballast Water Management Act) proposes to amend the Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990 to establish a national approach for managing invasive species in ballast water. The proposed legislation also includes a declaration that federal ballast water exchange and ballast water treatment standards, implemented by the U.S. Coast Guard, supersede state and local laws deemed inconsistent with federal provisions.
State Regulation of Animal Feeding Operations: Seven State Summaries examines the experiences of seven states that attempted to regulate as "concentrated animal feeding operations" CAFOs under state laws and previous federal regulations. Seven states are analyzed in this report: Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska, and Oregon. The state summaries identify what facilities and operations are regulated, how they are regulated, what regulatory standards apply, and how compliance with standards is monitored and enforced.
This study examined the laws of the fifty states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia to identify and analyze enforceable mechanisms for the control of nonpoint source water pollution. An enforceable mechanism consists of a standard applicable to an identified entity or entities; a sanction such as a civil, criminal, or administrative penalty, loss of a license, and performance of required remedial action, but not mere loss of an incentive; and a process, either explicit or implied, for applying the standard and imposing the sanction.
This report analyzes stakeholder attitudes about key issues concerning the verification of innovative environmental technologies, addressing such questions as: Would verification make a difference in the purchase of innovative environmental technology by technologies purchasers and users? Would verification make a difference in the approval of innovative environmental technologies by state and federal permit reviewers and regulators? This study includes a review of verification models as well as policy recommendations based on the results of the stakeholder survey.
This report provides an analysis of state groundwater classification systems. The first phase of the report identifies the statutory and regulatory underpinnings of each state’s classification system. The second phase gives an in-depth examination of ten state programs in order to determine the relationship of classification to groundwater protection activities.
Nine state hazardous substance cleanup programs were studied in depth in 1989 to determine what elements of funding, enforcement, program organization and other factors are important to state capabilities. Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Texas were studied in this report. Part I synthesizes the results across states and draws conclusions concerning means of enhancing programs. Part II reports on each of the states studied and shows how program features combine in the context of operating programs.
